Universe2.0/Generations Review Thread

[Onslaught Six]

I picked up Black Shadow last night, and while I haven't opened him yet, he sure does look cool. (I also haven't opened up Warpath yet. What the fuck am I waiting for?)

Black Shadow needs, I think, a sword. Like, a big cheesy knockoff robot sword that's chrome.

[Dominic]

Start with Warpath. That is the better toy.


Dom
-hopes to get a review of Junkpile, Kre-O Jazz and Undertow up soonishly.

[Dominic]

Given that most of the "Asia market exclusives" are actually going to be coming out in the US as TRU exclusives, albeit with mock "China import" packaging, I am reviewing them here.

Lewis ordered a few of these right before it was announced that they were being released in the US. He....over-paid. That said, I got a look at some of them last night.

-BlueStreak: This is a straight recolour (sans lightbar) of Legends Prowl. It uses the colour mapping of TFU Silverstreak but (if I understand correctly) it will be called Bluestreak, which establishes that they are the same character. (One could argue otherwise based on IDW's comics. But, that is more due to mistakes made with the ongoing than anything else.)

-Swerve: Good re-tooling and re-colour of the Kup mould. Definitely worth getting if you do not have Kup and worth considering if you do have Kup. On a personal note, I am thinking that I wasted money on that extra Kup I picked up for customizing. Even Swerve's head arguably works better for Orion Pax than Kup's. The red base plastic makes this figure a better starting point for a custom Orion, with or without a head swap though.

-Springer: This toys feels like a BotCon exclusive. Springer's head is the wrong style and out of proportion on this body. It looks like a half-arsed head swap along the lines of "Time LInes" Overlord. There is a new moulded sword included with the figure, but it cannot be stowed on the copter mode without displacing one of the missile launchers. I might buy one as the base for a custom Bayonet figure, but it is easilyt he least impressive of the four deluxes.

-Cliffjumper: The head swap actually does enough to make the "Prime" moulded body a passable TFU figure. Worth getting if you like Cliffjumper.

-Wheelie: Not a bad use of a flawed mould. The slingshot replaces the gun entirely, which limits the figure's potential customizing fodder. But, the head sculpt lends itself to being the starting point for a custom LongArm figure. Similarly, if I cannot find a spare RotF Shadow Striker, I might use this figure to make a Dion to complement Orion Pax.


-Fall of Cybertron figures:
My impression of these is pretty well consistent. All 3 feel undersized, being much smaller than other deluxes from a year or more back. The transformations are not bad, but are anemic compared to other toys from recent years. They feel more like large Scourt figures. And, even so, I have fiddled with more rewarding Scouts.

Jazz has a solid vehicle mode, but the robot mode is oddly proportioned. The mock wheels on the ankes are less offensive than I thought they would be as the real wheels are hidden well enough in the robot mode chest. (They are visible if you are looking right at them *and* know they are there.)

Shockwave feels like it is a cheaper/smaller variant of a larger/better figure. The best comparison that I can make is a Legend figure relative to a Deluxe or larger.

Optimus is the best of the 3. The plastic feels off, but the toy looks good enough. And, the engineering is much improved over the last "War for Cybertron" Optimus. I might break down and buy a copy of Prime if "Autocracy" sufficiently impresses me.


Dom
-mostly interested in the above figures as custom fodder.

[Gustavo]

Given that most of the "Asia market exclusives" are actually going to be coming out in the US as TRU exclusives, albeit with mock "China import" packaging, I am reviewing them here.

The special packaging amuses me, because all Transformers are imported from China.

Jazz has a solid vehicle mode, but the robot mode is oddly proportioned. The mock wheels on the ankes are less offensive than I thought they would be as the real wheels are hidden well enough in the robot mode chest. (They are visible if you are looking right at them *and* know they are there.)

The face is really, really ugly, with random lines carved into it to make it look more faux-robotic (fauxbotic?). I was really surprised by how light he was -- there's definitely a different, slightly softer plastic here, and that might have a lower density. Also, he's a little short. And he could use some more painted details.

Smaller, and with no gimmicks of any kind, and a higher price tag. Sigh.

He fits in well with WFC Optimus, though. Someone a bit smaller for Optimus to push around and sent on dangerous missions and all that.

[Dominic]

Jazz's face does not bother me because that is the moder way the character is depicted. But, you are right about the plastic. Still, I suppose that I should not complain. After all, the toy is easier to skip.


Dom
-actually looking forward to the China "imports".

[JediTricks]

Given that most of the "Asia market exclusives" are actually going to be coming out in the US as TRU exclusives, albeit with mock "China import" packaging, I am reviewing them here.

They are not in MOCK import packaging, they are in TRUE import packaging, these are the same packages, same items. I think they'll be sporting a sticker for US regs or something along those lines.

Lewis ordered a few of these right before it was announced that they were being released in the US. He....over-paid. That said, I got a look at some of them last night.

-BlueStreak: This is a straight recolour (sans lightbar) of Legends Prowl. It uses the colour mapping of TFU Silverstreak but (if I understand correctly) it will be called Bluestreak, which establishes that they are the same character. (One could argue otherwise based on IDW's comics. But, that is more due to mistakes made with the ongoing than anything else.)

-Swerve: Good re-tooling and re-colour of the Kup mould. Definitely worth getting if you do not have Kup and worth considering if you do have Kup. On a personal note, I am thinking that I wasted money on that extra Kup I picked up for customizing. Even Swerve's head arguably works better for Orion Pax than Kup's. The red base plastic makes this figure a better starting point for a custom Orion, with or without a head swap though.

-Springer: This toys feels like a BotCon exclusive. Springer's head is the wrong style and out of proportion on this body. It looks like a half-arsed head swap along the lines of "Time LInes" Overlord. There is a new moulded sword included with the figure, but it cannot be stowed on the copter mode without displacing one of the missile launchers. I might buy one as the base for a custom Bayonet figure, but it is easilyt he least impressive of the four deluxes.

-Cliffjumper: The head swap actually does enough to make the "Prime" moulded body a passable TFU figure. Worth getting if you like Cliffjumper.

-Wheelie: Not a bad use of a flawed mould. The slingshot replaces the gun entirely, which limits the figure's potential customizing fodder. But, the head sculpt lends itself to being the starting point for a custom LongArm figure. Similarly, if I cannot find a spare RotF Shadow Striker, I might use this figure to make a Dion to complement Orion Pax.

I'm surprised to hear you say that Springer's head was out of proportion, it didn't look that way at Comic-Con.

-Fall of Cybertron figures:
My impression of these is pretty well consistent. All 3 feel undersized, being much smaller than other deluxes from a year or more back. The transformations are not bad, but are anemic compared to other toys from recent years. They feel more like large Scourt figures. And, even so, I have fiddled with more rewarding Scouts.

Jazz has a solid vehicle mode, but the robot mode is oddly proportioned. The mock wheels on the ankes are less offensive than I thought they would be as the real wheels are hidden well enough in the robot mode chest. (They are visible if you are looking right at them *and* know they are there.)

Shockwave feels like it is a cheaper/smaller variant of a larger/better figure. The best comparison that I can make is a Legend figure relative to a Deluxe or larger.

Optimus is the best of the 3. The plastic feels off, but the toy looks good enough. And, the engineering is much improved over the last "War for Cybertron" Optimus. I might break down and buy a copy of Prime if "Autocracy" sufficiently impresses me.

I saw Jazz and Optimus at the store yesterday, holy crap do they look small and simplistic, and poor OP's shitty gun. Jazz's wheels didn't look that well hidden in the package. I easily passed on these.

Given that most of the "Asia market exclusives" are actually going to be coming out in the US as TRU exclusives, albeit with mock "China import" packaging, I am reviewing them here.

The special packaging amuses me, because all Transformers are imported from China.

Ha! True enough. These are the first with Chinese-market packaging, then.

[Dominic]

Yeah. I really thought, and sort of hoped, that Jazz and Optimus would tempt me more. But, sadly, they do not.

I'm surprised to hear you say that Springer's head was out of proportion, it didn't look that way at Comic-Con.

Maybe it is just the moulding/sculpting that is throwing me off. Either way, Springer's head does not look right on that body.


Dom
-needs to by a TFP Vehicon for a head swap.

[Shockwave]

faux-robotic (fauxbotic?).

I see what you did there. And I LIKE IT!!

[Shockwave]

Alright, since I actually have something to contribute to this thread here goes:

FOC Figures:

Shockwave: Shockwave does feel pretty small for a deluxe but he's comparable in size to the other two FoC figures so the effect is neglegible. Transformation is not what I expected but is new and different than what we've seen on any previous Shockwave. The toy does stay very true to both robot and vehicle game models which is nice. Of the three this one is easily my favorite and not just because it's Shockwave. I definitely recommend picking this up if you can do so for 12.99 or less (in other words DO NOT go to Wal Mart, these things are 15.75... PLUS TAX!!)

Jazz: I was waffling on this one because of the faux wheels in the feet. Actually having the figure in hand and seeing it in action in both modes it is, as Dom said, not as damning as I thought it would be, but I can't help feeling that properly engineered they wouldn't have been necessary. The robot mode does look rather out of proportion, the chest is bigger than the rest of the body. It looks like they were more focused on getting the vehicle mode right and the robot mode suffered a bit for it. I'd recommend it if you can find it on clearance.

Optimus Prime: This really should have been a bigger figure. At this scale, everything on Optimus seems too small. This is actually pretty game accurate to both modes and does so without any faux parts and everything does lock together solidly in vehicle mode (as they do on Jazz as well). My only real complaints with this are the head is too small and gun looks terrible. It has two handles but it actually LOOKS like it has two handles. I would recommend this as well but again, not a WM prices.

In fact, since WM seems to have jacked the prices to higher than everywhere else, I would just recommend staying away from WM in general.

Shockwave
-I knew there was a reason I hadn't been there in years.

[Onslaught Six]

From what I've heard, actually, Dom is right. The packaging for these in Asia was normal; the US release has weird Chinese for no reason.